DOJ Opinion No. 084, s. 2014

DOJ OPINION NO. 084, s. 2014 November 21, 2014 Atty. Danilo A. Tiu Unit 2502, Regalia Park Tower Tower B, 150 P. Tuazon Blvd.,Cubao Quezon City Dear Atty. Tiu : This has reference to your 21 October 2014 letter-petition requesting for an Opinion exempting Felicito M. Mejorado from the coverage of this Department's Opinion No. 40, s. 2012. The request for exemption is principally anchored on your submission that Mr. Mejorado's twenty percent (20%) informer's reward is a vested, contractual right and is constitutionally protected and guaranteed under Section 10, Article II of the 1987 Constitution. You state the following facts in support of your client's claim for the payment of his twenty percent (20%) informer's reward: 1. On 07 November 1997, Mejorado formally registered and filed his claim for informer's reward addressed to Deputy Commissioner Licerio Evangelista, who in turn registered it in the registry book at the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service (CIIS) of the Bureau of Customs (BOC). 2. On 25 April 2006, Mejorado was paid his first claim for informer's reward in the amount of P63,185,959.73, representing 20% of P343,411,285.69 collection from 07 February 1997 to 16 January 1998 from the initial payment of deficiency taxes and duties from URC/UGT/OILINK. 3. On 12 May 2006, Mejorado filed his second claim for informer's reward on the additional collections of P1,300,374,964.55 based on the information given by him which resulted in additional payments of duties and taxes by URC/UGT/OILINK for the years 2000 to 2004. DaScCH 4. On 16 March 2007, Mejorado's second claim for informer's reward was favorably evaluated by the BOC Committee on Rewards; the claim was forwarded to the Secretary of Finance on 19 March 2007. 5. On 12 April 2007, the Committee on Rewards of the Department of Finance (DOF),"by Authority of the Secretary",approved Mejorado's second claim for informer's reward in the amount of P272,064,996.56; the claim was referred back to the BOC for implementation. 6. On 16 April 2007, the Bureau of Treasury (BTr) placed the sum of P272,074,992.91 in a trust fund account under journal entry voucher no. 07-04-3452, for the payment of Mejorado's informer's reward. 7. On 20 April 2007, Bernardo V. Sales, BOC Deputy Commissioner, Internal Administration Group, requested the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to issue the Notice of Cash Allocation (NCA) to cover the payment of Mejorado's informer's reward for P272,074,992.91. DBM refused to issue the NCA. 8. On 08 September 2008, then Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, in a memorandum, directed Secretary Rolando G. Andaya Jr. of the DBM to issue the NCA, citing a similar, decided claim, the Allas case, in O.P. Case No. 05-L-425, dated 18 January 2006. DBM ignored Secretary Ermita's directive; it refused, again, to issue the NCA. 9. On 18 January 2012, the DOF, BOC, BTr, and DBM met (for the second time) ostensibly to provide guidelines for the payment of informer's reward; Undersecretary Mario L. Relampagos of the DBM presided. The attendees agreed that claims for reward would be processed only upon favorable endorsement by the BOC, and a certification issued by the BTr that the amount necessary to cover payment was taken out from Fund 101 and transferred to the trust account for the payment of informer's reward; these requirements were met: a favorable endorsement was issued by the BOC and a certification by the BTr (pertaining to Mejorado's claim). ITcCSA 10. On 08 June 2012, while awaiting the release of the NCA by the DBM, Your Honor released DOJ Opinion No. 40, s. 2012. 11. On 12 October 2012, Secretary Florencio B. Abad wrote the Secretary of Finance, stating that: "In view of the foregoing pronouncement, may we request that the DOF Committee on Rewards Decisions awarding the twenty percent (20%) informer's reward to Mr. Mejorado and Mr. Cunanan be re-evaluated in consideration of said Opinion [No. 40] before we process the payment thereof." 12. After the lapse of almost twenty-five months, the DOF Committee Rewards, coldheartedly indifferent to the yearning of Mejorado to receive finally his long-awaited informer's reward, has not yet re-evaluated that is more than two years of bureaucratic inaction its prior decision awarding 20% informer's reward to Mejorado. With regret, the Department does not issue an opinion exempting an individual from the coverage of an issued opinion, if it is indeed applicable to the facts and issues concerning the said individual. In addition, we note that if any redress is to be given to your situation, the matter falls within the DOF Committee on Rewards as stated in the 12 October 2012 letter of DBM Secretary Florencio B. Abad. Finally, an opinion on this subject matter would necessarily involve the rights of a private party, upon whom the opinion of the Secretary of Justice does not have any binding force. Such private party may contest the opinion before the courts and, thus, unnecessarily drag this Department in court litigation. Accordingly, by established precedents, the Secretary of Justice has consistently refrained from rendering an opinion on justiciable questions or those that may be the subject of judicial controversy. 1 Please be guided accordingly. aAIcEH Very truly yours, (SGD.) LEILA M. DE LIMA Secretary Department of Justice Footnotes 1. Opinion Nos. 74, series of 2000: 52 and 57, series of 2006.